Remarks in San Francisco at the Dedication of the Federal Building.

Governor Brown, Mayor Shelley, my very able administrator, Bernie Boutin, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Poole, Members of this fine congressional delegation, my old friend and employee Pierre Salinger, ladies and gentlemen:

I am proud to come to San Francisco today to dedicate this building of the finest government in the world, in the first State of the Union. When I say that "first State in the Union," that's not very easy for a Texan to say.

This is your building. You will use it. We put it here to serve your needs. And I assure you it will continue to serve the needs of the people of California as long as I have anything to do with this government. For that is the kind of government that Californians want and expect, and that is the kind of government that Californians are going to vote for. You want a government which can get things done and knows where it is going.

That is the kind of government you have had the past 4 years. I promise you that is the kind of government you are going to get for the next 4 years.

The past 4 years have been an exciting time in Washington and in the country. They have been a time of action, of unmatched growth, of movement, of progress in every area of our national life.

In January 1961, when our beloved President John F. Kennedy stood on the Capitol steps of our Nation and called upon America to follow him across the New Frontier, the country then was in the grip of a recession.

Today, as I stand here in the great city of San Francisco, we are in the 40th

straight month of continuous growth without a single recession.

In less than 4 years the value of our national product has gone up $100 billion, the largest rise since the country began. And the great State of California has led all the rest of the States.

The number of jobs has gone up to 71 million, the largest number of jobs since our country began, and 500,000 new jobs have come to California.

Private investment went up $25 billion. Corporate profits went up $12 billion. Labor income went up $54 billion.

And the great State of California led all the rest all the way.

We have done this while making the largest tax cut since our country began. Next year, the people and the business of California will be almost a billion dollars richer because of this tax cut.

We increased our defense until today we are stronger than all the nations of the rest of the world. We reached agreement with our adversaries ending nuclear tests in the air, and when our security was threatened, we stood firm in Cuba. As a result, peace is closer than ever before.

We have launched an all-out war on poverty, and an all-out effort to give every living American his full constitutional rights.

This is your record. This is a great record. But we do not ask you to praise our past. We do not ask you to be satisfied with our past successes. For freedom is never a safe harbor. It is a challenge constantly renewed, calling on us to move ahead, move forward, if we are not to decline.

It is on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. It shows an unfinished pyramid, watched over by the eternal eye of God. Above, it reads: He has favored our undertaking. Underneath it, it says: A New Order of the Ages.

That pyramid is our Nation--majestic and proud, but unfinished. That motto is our challenge, to build on these shores a new order of fulfillment and freedom for all men. These words are our faith: that He will favor our undertaking as long as we heed His injunction to "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works."

Well, I have come here today to ask you great citizens of San Francisco to join up in that forward march, to complete the great unfinished work of our Nation, to help bring peace to all the peoples of the world, to help bring prosperity to our own country and to all other men and women, and to give a fuller life to all people who live in this land.

I know the people of today's California, like the pioneers of your earliest days, under the leadership of your great Governor, under the leadership of your new Senator to be elected, Pierre Salinger, under the leadership of one of the finest congressional delegations in all the land, with one of the best mayors to ever serve a great city, my old friend Jack Shelley--yes, like the pioneers of your earliest days we will lead America and we will lead the rest of the world toward those goals.

We meet here in a beautiful city, in a free land, with prosperous people. We have much to love, much to protect, much to preserve. We have so much to be thankful for, all of us. Even though some of you Federal employees haven't got your pay bill passed yet, it has already passed the House and we are going to pass it in the Senate and make it law before this session ends.

I want to thank all of you for coming and giving us this warm welcome. I will always remember this visit to San Francisco. As a matter of fact, you make me feel so good that if I get distressed at all between now and next November, I think I am going to invite myself back to San Francisco.

In dedicating this new Federal building and this United States courthouse today to the service of all the people of San Francisco, I should like to leave with you an enduring symbol of this happy occasion. I have here a miniature replica of the Great Seal of the United States of America. It is similar to the larger replica of that same Seal which is mounted on this building--to constantly serve as a reminder to us of our heritage and of our duties as good American citizens. I am going to ask your beloved mayor, Jack Shelley, to step forward.

Mayor Shelley, I want you to accept this seal on behalf of the wonderful people of this great city. May this new building serve San Francisco long and well, today and in all the days to come.

Thank you. God bless all of you.